Elon Musk Says New Tesla Factories Are Wasting "Billions of Dollars"

"It should be like a giant roaring sound which is the sound of money on fire."

Cash and Burn

All is not well at the Gigafactory, apparently.

In a just-released May 30th interview with the Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley fan club, billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk lamented that global supply chain issues and EV battery woes are causing serious financial fallout at both of the company's newly-built, extremely large manufacturing facilities, located in Berlin and Austin.

"Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now," Musk explained to his eager subjects, who he spoke to in Austin, Texas. "It should be like a giant roaring sound which is the sound of money on fire."

99 Problems

The future drive-in owner explained that the company's money problems stem in part from pandemic-related supply chain bottlenecks, a problem that industries worldwide have had to grapple with. Crucial parts for Tesla's workhorse 2170 battery cells, he said, are currently stuck in Chinese ports, leaving the EV maker with no choice but to wait.

Meanwhile, building battery packs for the company's next-generation 4680 power cells is proving to be more difficult than anticipated. No batteries, no vehicles — and now, according to the founder, as they fail to meet lofty production goals, the Gigafactories are bleeding cash. Fast.

"This factory is losing insane money right now," the CEO continued, in regard to the Austin facility. "We should be outputting a lot more cars from this factory, versus a very puny amount of cars."

The alleged Dogecoin "grifter" also bemoaned the COVID-19 shutdowns that affected Tesla's Shanghai factory, as well as a worldwide semiconductor shortage.

Musk has always celebrated Gigafactory openings with, um, enthusiasm, and these latest additions to the Gigafamily have been no exception. But if the much-hyped facilities can't make cars, they don't make money, and judging by the company's recent round of layoffs — which Musk publicly attributed to personally just having a "bad feeling" about the economy — financial trouble checks out.

READ MORE: Musk says Tesla’s factories in Berlin and Texas are ‘gigantic money furnaces’ [CNBC]

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